Chapter 5. Conviction and Reality (1)
Chapter 5. Conviction and Reality (1)
Chapter 5. Conviction and Reality (1)
One thing I feel every time I fire—gunshots really aren't my thing.
Even back in the military, it was hard to find anyone who actually liked the sound of gunfire. Sure, there were guys who thought shooting itself was fun, or who weirdly liked the smell of gunpowder.
For the record, it's not just the sound. I hate the distinctive recoil and the gunpowder smell too.
Honestly, though, walking through a Gate with a shield and a gun was a little exciting. I mean, I was someone who devoured comics and novels. As a kid in this world, I'd even dreamed of being a Hunter.
But what you imagine in your head and reality are always two different things.
Bang, bang!
Even pressing my arm tight against the shield and controlling the recoil as much as possible, I still can't get used to the feel of firing one-handed.
"Gweek!?"
And the same went for watching a Magical Creature collapse in a spray of green blood.
I prefer meat over vegetables, but actually watching an animal die right in front of me is a different matter entirely.
Well, fine. Maybe that part doesn't bother me so much. At least a monster that was closing in on me collapsing in a spray of blood means it can't hurt me anymore.
What really makes my skin crawl is—
Thunk.
The sensation of something hitting my shield.
It wasn't that strong. It wasn't an attack meant to reach me in the first place—just the sound of part of a monster slamming into the shield.
Ria was protecting me.
As the one taking point and protecting the whole party, she couldn’t focus only on me, but Lee Si-yoon was standing right beside me, so there was no real problem.
In the first place, stepping directly in front of someone holding a gun is irrational. Even a bullet fired by a well-trained person can ricochet unpredictably, and no one in their right mind would trust my marksmanship a hundred percent when I've barely had conscript-level firearms training.
Even so, the reason I can be in this party is probably because of my Holy Power.
Shhk!
The small Magical Creatures charging at me were sliced in half and killed by a sword Ria swung without much effort. It wasn't a particularly pleasant sight, but—
Whoosh.
Before cutting down the next Magical Creature, Ria flicked the blood off her blade in midair. How should I put it.
It was a little cool. Damn it.
I'd like to be able to fight like that too—but, well, the Saintess in the original wasn't that good at combat. A healer is a healer, after all. I've changed my loadout and I'm contributing to combat in my own way, but only as support.
Bang!
Clack.
Seeing the slide lock back, I reached for the magazine release—
"Wait, over there!"
Han Yu-ri's shout rang out.
From the forest—beside Lee Si-yoon, on my right—a Magical Creature burst out.
With Lee Si-yoon's skill, he probably could have blocked it. Even if he got hurt, it wouldn't have been serious.
But even as I thought that, my hands were already moving.
Just as Ria trained me, I calmly holstered the pistol behind the shield. Then I reached my right hand toward Lee Si-yoon—
"......!"
The white light shining from my hand seared the Magical Creature's surface to a crisp.
It has no effect on living creatures. If anything, it might only heal wounds.
But against a being that lives on Mana, the story changes.
"Gweek!?"
The moment the Magical Creature hit the ground, Lee Si-yoon drove his sword into its neck. Though I'm not sure "neck" is the right word. Its whole body was round and fluffy. Let's just say the lower part of "where a brain might be," or the upper part of where the arms are.
I don't know if it was actually the neck, but given that the Magical Creature's movements completely stopped when Lee Si-yoon's sword went in, that spot must be a vital point.
"......Hah."
I let out a small breath.
I drew the gun from the holster again, pulled a fresh magazine from my vest, and loaded it. The shield grip strapped to my forearm got in the way a little, but I managed the reload somehow.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
Lee Si-yoon shook his head at my question.
I looked around at the other party members. No one seemed seriously injured either.
"Good. Then let's clean up the area. Don't spread out too much. Stay centered on Anna."
We all nodded at that.
*
The party's overall haul was decent. We managed to collect claws, teeth, and the like from the Magical Creatures' bodies, and for a single outing, we earned a fair amount of money. It wasn't at the level the protagonist's party earned in the original, but, well, we're still before the main story.
......The main story, huh.
Unless a story is pure slice-of-life, there's usually at least one major throughline. And even slice-of-life stories often have a throughline running through their center. Usually, that major throughline gets pulled in during the process of concluding the story.
[The Weakest Hunter], which I read, had that kind of major throughline too.
The Second Gate Crisis.
A being presumed to be the cause of all Gate Crises.
And the organizations that sought to remove the force that had been suppressing Gate appearances until now.
The problem was that I hadn’t read the story to the end, so I couldn’t say for certain who those beings were.
"......."
Seeing me lost in thought, Ria tapped me on the shoulder.
When I turned to look, Ria had been about to say something but closed her mouth. She'd probably been about to tease me.
But Ria, who had been watching me with a serious expression for just a moment, grinned and tapped my shoulder again.
"You did good today. Your aim was solid."
"I didn't take down many Magical Creatures myself."
"Your role is managing the party's health in the first place. If you're the one having to step up and take things out, the whole party's in danger."
I couldn't think of anything to say against that.
It feels a little...... strange. It's been a while since Ria praised me so purely like this.
"I was the same at first."
"Huh?"
"Killing something. It's not a pleasant feeling, right? Even when the other thing is trying to kill you. It's probably worse for you."
I wondered what she saw to think it was worse for me, but since it wasn't like I felt nothing, I listened quietly.
Come to think of it, Ria letting me enter the Gate with live ammunition might have been her way of looking out for me. In game terms, she'd let the healer step up front.
And of all things, I'm carrying a gun—if anything, that would've been a nuisance for someone in the position of having to lead and protect the party.
"......."
As I just stared at Ria with an expression I couldn't put into words, she shrugged, patted my shoulder a couple more times, and walked past me.
......Why is that?
Am I annoyed because Ria is actually younger than me? If not that, then—
Hmm, let's just call it annoyance.
Somehow, thinking of it that way seems better.
*
Until I ran into Ria, all I'd thought about was staying out of the story line so I wouldn't interfere with the protagonist couple. But now that I've ended up joining them, I can't help thinking about the main story.
While Ria went to wash up, I took out my journal for the first time in a long while.
Fortunately, it's a journal no one has discovered so far. Just in case, I'd densely filled the very front and very back with my thoughts on Atheism, so a normal person who read the first few pages wouldn't bother reading the rest.
It's the same method as internet shitposters who deliberately hide a "you got baited" section in the middle so readers are sure to read that far.
......Not that I'm saying I used to write that kind of post.
I flipped through the somewhat thick journal and found the section where I'd summarized the story.
First, the protagonist's Awakening.
As in most novels, the protagonist awakens in a life-or-death crisis. In this case, that's Lee Si-yoon.
He'd already faced a death threat once and had his limit partially released, but reaching full bloom here requires going through more events.
Usually, a heroine falls into danger, and Lee Si-yoon risks his life to save her.
......And that included the Saintess.
Second, the story's major throughline.
There is an organization.
A faction from beyond the Gate.
"......Beings who believed that Gates were a blessing granted by God's power."
The point where their true nature was revealed came in the content following the Saintess's story.
The Saintess's immense Holy Power.
That power is the true power of God, and therefore this world is where salvation awaits—
"......If they know that, they shouldn't be giving power to someone like me."
I muttered with a deep sigh.
It's true.
If I hadn’t been possessed by the Saintess—if this had been a world almost identical to the original, but without a Saintess.
Wouldn't it have been better to just leave this body empty, rather than creating it and giving it to me?
So that those beings would never know where this world is.
......Or maybe, in the end, the task I'm meant to carry out in this world was already decided.
As expected, I still don't know.
The sound of water from the shower stopped.
Thinking of Ria brought back the sight she'd shown me earlier.
In this world, was there anyone besides Ria who had praised me for my own abilities alone? Other people...... just look at the being behind me.
......I've gotten too close.
I let out a deep sigh and rubbed my face again.